Baseball Gets Split of NJAC Twinbill with TCNJ

Little Falls, NJ (4/19/09) – Sophomore
rightfielder Anthony Palmiotto (Manchester, NJ / Manchester Township)
of The College of New Jersey singled home the eventual game-winning run
in the top of the 10th inning of the opener while Montclair State
seniors Jason Lopez (West New York, NJ / Memorial) and Matt Hartwick (Ringwood, NJ / Lakeland Regional)
combined for seven RBI in the second game as the Lions and Red Hawks
split an NJAC doubleheader at Yogi Berra Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

TCNJ
took the opener 8-7 before Montclair State snapped the Lions’
seven-game winning streak with a 16-5 victory in Game Two. The split
left TCNJ at 19-13-1 overall, 11-4 in the NJAC, one game behind Kean
University for first place. Montclair State is now 18-13 overall, 9-5
in conference as MSU wrapped up a week in which it won six of eight
contests over the past six days. The Red Hawks are currently in fourth
place in the conference.

In the first game,
Montclair State clawed back from a 7-4 deficit with two runs in the
seventh and tied the game in the bottom of the ninth as freshman
pinch-hitter Adam Bergman (Berkeley Heights, NJ / Gov. Livingston) lined a two-out base hit to right field scoring Jonathan Trotter (Flanders, NJ / Mount Olive) with the game-tying run to force extra innings.

The
Lions would get the go-ahead run with some two-out magic of its own.
Andrew Priece (Bridgewater, NJ / Bridgewater-Raritan) and Mike
Galeotafiore (Brick, NJ / Christian Brothers Academy) drew walks to put
runners at first and second. Palmiotto the bounced a single through the
right side scoring pinch-runner Jared Tramutola (Jackson, NJ / Toms
River South) for an 8-7 New Jersey lead.

Montclair State would threaten in the bottom of the 10th. Sam Politan (Livingston, NJ / Livingston) reached on a fielder’s choice to keep MSU’s at bat going and Scott Evangelist (Northfield, NJ / Holy Spirit)
followed with a base hit to put runners at the corners with two outs.
But reliever Eric Gertie (Cinnaminson, NJ / Cinnaminson) got force out
at second for the final out as TCNJ claimed the one-run victory.

Gerite picked up the victory as he improved to 2-1 on the season. Freshman lefthanderSean Hille (Edison, NJ / St. Joseph’s (Metuchen)) took the loss, his first decision of the year.

James
Ruzich (Verona, NJ / Montclair Kimberly Academy) was 3-for-5 and drove
four runs, including a two-run homer in the fifth that gave the Lions a
5-4 lead. It was Ruzich’s second homer of the season. Vin Mazzacaro
(Gloucester, NJ / Gloucester Catholic) and and Chris Esperon (Union, NJ
/ Union Catholic) each had three hits while Adam Tussey (Brooklawn, NJ
/ Gloucester) collected two as the Lions posted 17 in the contest.

Lopez and Michael Boggi (Towaco, NJ / Montville) each went 4-for-5 with an RBI for the Red Hawks who had 16 hits. Mickey McGraw (Morristown, NJ / Morristown) was 2-for-3 with a pair of RBI.

The teams combined to strand 29 runners in the game, including three times with the bases loaded.

In
the second contest, the Lions jumped on top with an unearned run in the
first as Tussey, singled to open the game and eventually scored on an
errant throw on a two-out strikeout in the dirt.

Montclair State would answer in its half as Ed Kloepping (Pennsville, NJ / Pennsville) bounced a singled through the middle to score Jay Bionde (Pompton Plains, NJ / Pequannock)
knotting the game at 1-1. Montclair then took the lead the following
inning scoring twice. McGraw put MSU ahead to stay with a base hit
Bionde scored on balk to give the Red Hawks a 3-1 lead.

MSU
then busted the game open in the third with nine runs, sending 13
batters to the plate at it capitalized on two TCNJ errors. Hartwick
brought in the first run with ground ball and Bionde was hit by a pitch
with the bases loaded to make the score 5-1. McGraw then lofted two-out
fly ball that was misplayed clearing the bases as MSU went up by seven.
Evangelist would later addean RBI single and Lopez blasted a three-run
double to cap the inning a Montclair led 12-1.

That proved to be more than enough for junior lefthanderJohn Masklee (Totowa, NJ / Seton Hall Prep),
who improved to 4-3. Masklee went the first seven innings allowing six
hits and two runs, one earned as he fanned five and walked one. Sean
Flanagan (Manalapan, NJ / Manalapan) took the loss to fall to 1-2.

Lopez
and McGraw each had two hits for MSU while Tussey, Esperon and Jeff
Toth (Parlin, NJ / Sayreville War Memorial) all had two hits apiece for
New Jersey.

Both are next in action against Johns
Hopkins University. TCNJ travels to Baltimore, MD to meet the Blue Jays
on Monday, April 20 at 3:30 pm. Montclair State hosts JHU at Yogi Berra
Stadium the next evening (April 21) at 7:00 pm.